Houston ranked near the bottom on recreation

Updated 8:53 pm, Friday, July 25, 2014

Photo: Photo By Kelly Reed, Getty Images

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Low score for Houston

A recent study placed Houston among the worst cities in the nation in terms of quality of recreation, sports and culture. Houston was ranked at No. 94, almost dead last. A number of Texas cities fared poorly in the survey, conducted by financial service website WalletHub.

Click through this slideshow to find out how WalletHub determined Houston's ranking.

A recent study placed Houston among the worst cities in the nation in terms of quality of recreation, sports and culture. Houston was ranked at No. 94, almost dead last. A number of Texas cities fared poorly in

WalletHub's second metric measured the quality of Houston's parks. In this category, Houston placed at No. 64 among the 100 largest U.S. cities.

"The size of a park isn’t near as important as the opportunities provided in a park," said Illinois State University Professor Brent A. Briggs. "A well designed small park can be just as beneficial as a larger park."

Houston placed near the absolute bottom on a list measuring the quality of recreation, sports and culture in the 100 largest cities in the U.S.

Houston ranked an abysmal 94th on the list, according to WalletHub, a personal finance social website that sponsored the study.

The study used four broad metrics to study cities' caliber of recreation, outdoor sports and culture: financial cost, quality of parks, entertainment facilities and weather conditions.

Texas fared poorly overall. Laredo placed No. 99 on the list, behind only Newark, New Jersey. San Antonio fared slightly better than Houston; the city was ranked No. 93. Irving also placed in the bottom 10, at No. 91.

The highest ranking Texas city was Austin, at No. 40, the only city from the Lone Star state to crack the top 50. The top spot overall was occupied by Cincinnati, Ohio.

John Crossley, program coordinator at Florida State University, said parks should strive to generate more funds through increased fees and tolls.

"Cities need to operate more like a business and less like a social service these days," he said.

Jeffrey C. Hallo, associate professor of parks, recreation and tourism management at Clemson University, said the problem was not over-spending, but under-spending by city councils and state governments.

He mentioned a mistake local officials make on public park policy: "treating them as an 'extra' instead of a fundamental part of economic development."

In 2013, the 100 largest U.S. cities spent a combined $2.6 billion on parks and recreation. In 2011, the largest cities in America created about 120 combined new parks, playgrounds and green spaces.